Carolyn: Well, rather unusually for Dogs Trust film I’m here with a cat. Who’s this?

Jo-Ann: This is Norman.

Carolyn: Fantastic. I mean, I know people say fighting like cat and dog. But it doesn’t have to be like that, does it?

Jo-Ann: No. Not at all.

Carolyn: How many cats have you got?

Jo-Ann: We’ve got three cats.

Carolyn: And how many dogs?

Jo-Ann: Seven.

Carolyn: Do they all get on?

Jo-Ann: Yeah, they get on brilliantly.

Carolyn: But then you breed as well, don’t you?

Jo-Ann: Yes, I do.

Carolyn: So do you do things to make sure that the puppies that you breed go off to their new homes or do you use the cats?

Jo-Ann: Well, really as soon as they’re sort of up and walking around they’re introduced to the cat. They’re used to the smell when their eyes are still close. But as soon as their eyes are open, they’re up moving around I introduce them to the cat.

Carolyn: I think that is probably the most important thing that if people have already got a cat, they need to get their puppy from the breeder who raise the puppy with cats as well. Because if they’ve seen them from the moment that they’re born it’s nothing new for them rather than just them suddenly arriving home at ten weeks old and seeing this fluffy chase toy that keeps going within pass. But that’s only the starting point, isn’t it? Is getting the puppy from a breeder who raise with cats. Before you even bring the puppy home, get the house ready, get some baby gates up so the cats just go on the escape routes. I mean, do you use baby gates with your puppies?

Jo-Ann: Yeah, we’ve got baby gates on every room in the house.

Carolyn: That’s brilliant because it just means that the cats got an escape route. So a cat can either go through the bars or over the top of the baby gate and the puppy can’t follow and it just gives him a bit of confidence. And of course it means that you can feed the cat and have the cats litter tray if you use one the other side of the baby gates where the puppy can’t go. They’re perfect. It makes life so much easier.

Once you get your puppy home he’s got to learn that he never gets to chase the cat ever. And that might be introducing the cat to the puppy while the puppy is in the crate. And crates are fantastic for that, aren’t they?

Jo-Ann: Yeah, they really are.

Carolyn: You can just put your puppy in the crate and the puppy can get used to just seeing the cat walking around and just getting used to just seeing that movement. Then of course once the puppy is just used to just seeing the cut around you can start to let them interact together but always making sure that you just distract the puppy away from the cat, so if the puppy looks like he’s going towards the cat, then just lure him back. Is that how you do it?

Jo-Ann: Yeah, that’s exactly how I do it. It’s a great technique. I also use toys and treats as well.

Carolyn: Yeah, I think it’s just anything that gets the puppy’s focus away from the cat and just thinking that you’re more fun. And then it just means that the puppy gets more reward from paying attention to you than he does from paying attention to the cat. And it’s just much about building the cat’s confidence with the new puppy as it is getting the puppy used to the cat and knowing that he never ever gets to chase that cat. That’s always got to be the rule. And if you do that from the beginning you’ll have absolutely no fighting like cat and dog in your house, like yours and Norman. What do you reckon, Norman? Are you sure he’s not stuffed?

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